NEW YORK, February 15 (FinanceEnquiry.com) - Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed ‘A-‘ long term issuer credit rating on London Stock Exchange, and removed from CreditWatch. Moreover, S&P confirmed ‘A-2’ short-term rating with negative outlook.

In a research note published yesterday, S&P Rating Services  gave ‘A-‘ long-term issuer credit rating on London Stock Exchange, and removed from CreditWatch where it had been placed with negative implications on December 9, 2011. The reason behind the negative implications was LSE's substantial exposure to unsecured credit risk at Italian banks through its Italian clearinghouse subsidiary (Cassa di Compensazione e Garanzia; CC&G). This credit exposure emerged from CC&G’s investment of the cash collateral it gained through its members, which later was allocated on an unsecured basis with local banks. The individual placements went beyond the CC&G’s own shareholders’ funds, which are totaled around $120 million. Thus, a solvency problem at CC&G may arise following the default of a major treasury counterpart.